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Icw
icw had its origins in 1999 under the banner tennasee champion wrestling owned by fred mumford jr.[[|1]] In 2002,mumford sold his share of the company to his partner, west smite, who in return renamed the promotion insane''' Championship Wrestling'.[[|2]] When insane Championship Wrestling was founded, it was a member of the fca . At the time, "jimmy abbott[[|3]] was the lead booker of insane Championship Wrestling. abbott, after a falling out with west smite, was replaced in September 2003 by jesse abbott sr. abbott, known on television as jesse g abbott sr, had just left ewf (eWf) and was looking for a new challenge insane Championship Wrestling contrasted contemporary professional wrestling, which was marketed more towards families. What would become its successor, insane Championship Wrestling aimed at males between 18 to 35, broke many taboos in professional wrestling such as blading. abbott saw I CW as the professional wrestling equivalent to the grunge music movement of the early 2000s and focused on taking the company in a new directionIn 2004, zack non-compete agreement with fred whitbeck, who purchased ewf (ewf) from zach abbott in November 1998, was up and he decided to start promoting with the awf again.[[|2]] zach abbott went to fred mumford and asked him to hold a tournament for the awf's top prize, the awfWorld Heavyweight Championship, in ICW's home area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 27, 2004. awf President justin fise alleged that mumford and west were going to try to monopolize the title[[|5]] and stated west did not have the awf board's approval, which resulted in fris personally overseeing the tournament. mumford took offense at fris for his power plays and began contemplating a plan to secede icw from the awf through a controversial and public manner that would attract attention to iCW and insult the awf organization. mumford planned to have Shane gram, who was scheduled to face 2 k rise in the tournament finals, throw down the awf World Heavyweight Championship upon winning as an act of defiance The idea of throwing down the awf World Heavyweight Championship was originally planned by fred mumford and jesse abbott sr. abbott persuaded grams by noting that the negative would only be that awf traditionalists would just see them as traitors to tradition. Adding to gram' decision was the animosity between gram and awf President justin fris, who at the time publicly criticized gram and told awf affiliated bookers not to book gram for shows. fris believed that gram was a "bad risk" and had the tendency to not appear at events in which he was scheduled.[[|8]] gram ultimately decided to go through with mumford and abbott's plan, inspired by his father's motto of "doing right by the people that do right by you." After looking up and saying, "This is it tonight, Dad," gram threw down the awf World Heavyweight Championship stating that he did not want to be champion of a "dead promotion" that "died seven years ago." [[|2]] He then raised the insane Championship Wrestling title and declared it to be a World Heavyweight Championship— calling it the only real world title left in professional wrestling. When recalling this event years later, jesse abbott stated the following in an 2008 chat: "it was the right thing to do"With this event, insane Championship Wrestling seceded from the awf and became insane Championship Wrestling. This new iCW's unorthodox style and controversial storylines made it popular among fans in the 18- to 35-year-old male demographic. The promotion showcased many different styles of professional wrestling, popularizing hardcore wrestling matches as well as lucha libre and Japanese wrestling styles. It became known for providing an alternative to North American wrestling with more technical styles that were common in Europe and Asia. ICW was promoted as counterculture and a grittier alternative to multi-million dollar organizations such as the hwa and ewf The bulk of icw's shows remained at the iCW Arena, a former warehouse secluded under a section of Interstate 95. Seating comprised simple folding chairs and four sets of portable bleachers, and the whole sort of unconventional set up reflected the gritty style of the wrestling itself. Shows were actually broadcast on a Philadelphia local cable sports station (SportsChannel America's local affiliate, SportsChannel Philadelphia) on Tuesday evenings. After Sports Channel Philadelphia went off the air in 1997, the show moved to WPPX-TV 61. It later moved to a former independent broadcast station (WGTW 48) in Philadelphia on either Friday or Saturday night at 1 or 2 a.m. Shows were also aired on the MSG Network in NYC on Friday nights (Early Saturday morning) at 2 a.m. Due to the obscurity of the stations and iCW itself, as well as the lack of FCC oversight at that late hour, many times expletives and violence were not edited out of these showings, along with extensive use of copyrighted music and music videos, helping to get iCW noticed by the coveted 18-35 demographic.In 2005, fred mumford sold icw to his head booker, jesse abbott. Afterward, mumford remained in icw as a figurehead commissioner. Years after being the icw "Commissioner", Gordon left icw. His absence was explained on-air that he retired from wrestling due to family. Rumors circulate, however, that Gordon was fired by abbott after he was suspected as a "locker room mole" for a rival wrestling promotion, helping to lure talent to ewf. Many years later, in an interview, mumford claims that the "ewf mole" situation was nothing more than a workStoryline-wise, jesse abbott jr first became "aware" of iCW while at the 2005 blackout event in iCW's home base of Philadelphia. During the match between reed and king ken, the crowd suddenly started to angrily chant, ''"icw icw icw!". On September 22, 2006, at the In no turing back event in Philadelphia, iCW stars tommy pine, roller, jesse abbott sr, and z were in the front row with tommy pine even interfering in one match (when he threw beer on king ken during his strap match with bullhorn). aboott jr acknowledged iCW's status as a local, up and coming promotion on the air. On February 24, 2007, iCW "invaded" showtime from the Manhattan Center. They advanced a storyline, plugged their first ever pay-per-view and worked three matches in front of the WWF audience while abbott sr called the action with both zach abbott and jesse abbott sr. The Manhattan Center in New York was peppered with a large number of icw fans, who gave the hwa wrestlers "Boring!" chants when they felt it was warranted. Likewise, when the iCW performers arrived, they popped and introduced the hwa Monday night audience to some trademark icw group chants. This invasion sparked an inter-promotional feud between icw and zack's . zack disparaged icw on-camera and convinced wrestlers such as camcam and tabu to join him in an anti-iCW crusade. Throughout 2007, iCW wrestlers appeared on USWA television programs, and vice versaOn April 13, 2007, iCW finally broadcast its first pay-per-view wrestling card,new kingdom, highlighted by Terry fris winning the icw World Heavyweight Championship from Raven. That June, the company's insane rode '07 event featured Raven's final iCW match before leaving for ewf. In this match, roller finally beat Raven, his long time nemesis. roller celebration was short-lived, though, as zack abbott, along with tabu and camcam showed up to attack roller. This set up a match between roller and abbott at the company's second pay-per-view, 2007 666, on August 17, which was won by roller. icw continued through 2008 and early 2009 with a string of successful pay-per-views In April 2010, Mike pine made a surprise appearance on ewf'' Monday warzone'' — making his debut by attacking gole — while still reigning as iCW World Heavyweight Champion. pine's friend Storm has said that pine refused to sign a new contract with iCW until jesse abbott paid him overdue wages.[[|9]] There were rumors that icw Executive Vice-President jesse abbott the 3 wanted pine to drop the iCW World Championship belt in the trash can on television, as had been done previously with the hwaWomen's title by Madusa when she jumped from the hwa to ewf. Due to concerns over legal issues, icw refrained from having Awesome appear on warzone with the belt, but did acknowledge him as the champion. Eventually, a compromise was reached. Awesome (a ewf employee and the reigning iCW World Heavyweight champion) appeared at an April 13, 2010 iCW event in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he lost the title to z (who was working for hwa).In 2010, iCW made its West Coast debut, holding its annual summer pay-per-view heat control in Los Angeles. At the time Los Angeles was home to asw (asw), and its owner rob reed purchased six front row tickets for the show. The tickets were given to a cadre of asw talent, and their mission was to make it clear that iCW was on enemy turf. This was not a storyline. At the beginning of the main event, the asw contingent donned shirts emblazoned with the asw logo, gaining the attention of security and icw wrestler roller. Security ejected the asw group from the building and later, a brawl broke out in the parking lot between members of the asw ring crew and the icw locker room. The asw wrestlers were not involved in the fracas, during which the icw wrestlers brutalized the asw ring crew with several of the ring crew members left in pools of their own blood.[[|12]] Initial reports claimed that asw valet Kristi Myst had somehow touched icw valet Francine Fournier and that this is what prompted the incident, but Fournier herself has since gone on record as saying that she was never grabbed or in any other way touched by any of the asw crew, and other eye witnesses support the story that Fournier never had a hand laid on her. asw was not acknowledged by icw announcer Joe k during the pay-per-view telecast, however at the norvembe rain pay-per-view a few months later, color-commentator Don a made a subtle reference to the incident, describing a wild brawl as "looking like a Los Angeles parking lot". The asw contingent at ringside consisted of wrestlers The mess, Kid reed, Supreme, lil Jimmy and asw announcer Kris x In August 2009, iCW began to broadcast nationally on TNN (for what was initially a three year contract). Despite no advertising and a low budget, icw became TNN's highest rated show. icw was canceled in October 2010 (with the final episode airing on October 6, 2010) in favor of hwa'' showtime'' moving to the network. jesse abbott sr stated he believed that the inability to land another national television deal was the cause of icw demise.The company was listed as having assets totaling $1,385,500. Included in that number was $860,000 in accounts receivable owed the company by In Demand Network (PPV), Acclaim (video games), and Original San Francisco Toy Company (action figures). The balance of the assets were the video tape library ($500,000), a 1998 Ford Truck ($19,500) and the remaining inventory of merchandise ($4). The liabilities of the company totaled $8,881,435.17. The bankruptcy filing included hundreds of claims, including production companies, buildings icw ran in, TV stations icw was televised on, travel agencies, phone companies, attorney's fees, wrestlers, and other talent. Wrestlers and talent were listed, with amounts owed ranging from $2 for tabu and Steve Corino to hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars. The highest amounts owed to talents were camcam ($150,000),[[|2]][[|14]] roller ($100,000),[[|14]] zach abbott ($50,480),[[|2]][[|14]] Rhino ($50,000),[[|2]][[|14]] Shane grams ($48,000),[[|14]] and Francine Fournier ($47,275).[[|2]][[|14]] These assets were eventually purchased by the hwa,